Boxing, Basketball, or Hero-making?

[giddyboy]

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i insist this is politics and current events...

..."Jinkee Pacquiao admitted to “Yes Magazine” that she is now going through the worst upheavals in her eight-year marriage to Manny.

Her husband is dubbed “Pambansang Kamao (national fist)” for the acclaim and pride he has given the country for his ring victories. In the euphoria after one such victory over a Mexican foe, the buzz was all for hailing Manny as a modern-day national hero.

According to the Superbalita feature, Jinkee says she struggles with the womanizing and gambling of Manny. At parties and bars, she tries to be blind to her husband and his girls until she cannot take it anymore and goes to a corner to cry. Can one be a hero to one’s countrymen while being the lowest form of animal to one’s wife?

Boxing and basketball may be our country’s favorite sports, but it is hero-making that is actually our national pastime. Unlike others that tear down personalities as quickly as they build them up, we Pinoys have an elastic threshold of blind love for our idols, who fit better the mold of Erap the lover of women and the masses, rather than Mother Teresa the living saint.

In a country where even drainage systems hardly work but actors can become statesmen and statesmen opt to become actors, it hardly surprises anyone that our hopes for national transformation and moral resurgence is pinned not on processes and systems but on whistleblowers-turned-celebrities.

Senate star witness Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr. seems to repulse so far all the character-demolition attempts to discredit his exposure of the graft and corruption allegedly committed in the national broadband network deal.

In my books, Lozada passes at least one test: his wife wanted him back. Violeta Lozada filed a petition for the writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court after she learned the police and airport officials spirited him away upon his return to the country.

But more than the wife test, literature has a better standard for myth-building. More nuanced and realistic is the anti-hero, a literary character who resembles the villain but denies or suppresses heroic virtues. Which side prevails determines the tale’s end.

In time, our national pastime may encourage our anti-heroes to reconcile pleasing the crowds and treating one’s wife honorably. Let’s hope, for our children’s sake, that our hero-making matures from simply replacing busted bulbs to spotting mistakes in the dark."

---Mayette Q. Tabada, "Wives' tales/Matamata/Sun.Star/2-24-08

[giddyboy]

kinsa pa may gihimo natong "hero" ani wui?

First c Plunderer Erap, dayon c Bitchy Gloria, then FPJ (bless his soul), then Pacman, now Lozada aka JLo? hikhikhik

this simply proves that "hero-making" is Pinoys' ultimate national pastime...move over basketball and boxing!...hehe

[godsaint]

Ngano man hero na diay si Pacman?Kinsa man ang nag declare?A boxing hero s not the same as the national hero and Pacman will never be the latter.

[yokam]

Whether we like it or not, Manny Pacquiao is now the face of the Philippines. His victories in the boxing ring has brought Philippines to a new, different, and higher heights and has earned respect not only from his fellow Filipinos but from influential and dignified people from all over the world. He's just a sports icon and we all don't have the right to criticize him with what he's doing with his private life. As long as he's winning and gives Philippines a good name, then it's fine. But unfortunately, with his influence right now, people just don't see him as a sports icon or a boxing hero but a role model as well. Almost every Filipino wants to be like Pac and will try to follow everything that he does, even those outside the boxing ring.

Filipinos are not trying to make heroes but are just entertaining themselves. With the telenovela fever still on, even news and current events are like telenovelas. It's no longer a source of information and updates but rather another source of fun, ridicule, criticisms, and even for pastime. Going back to Manny Pacquiao, his private life is his own business. All we should care about is him winning and winning and not to make a very big deal out of his wife's problem. Rather than trying to make an issue out of it and put another stain on Pacman's image, why don't Filipinos look for ways to change him into a responsible father and husband? Articles are pinpointing his womanizing yet nobody has bothered to just at least suggest help or merely suggest. Why? Because we all want to be entertained.

[Rance]

"tong pats" "tong its" "tog ots" the buzz word in trash news and entertain people

[chad_tukes]

that only proves to show no matter how "HEROIC" a person is, naa gyud gihapoy FLAW sa iyang CHARACTER. nobody's PERFECT ika nga.

IMO, nisugod nanig DAKO ang O ni Manny.

[johnny22aa]

Yes, op cors! onli in da pilipins!

[slakker]

billiards...

[giddyboy]

Ngano man hero na diay si Pacman?Kinsa man ang nag declare?A boxing hero s not the same as the national hero and Pacman will never be the latter.

For u maybe but some people regard Pacman as a modern-day national hero...kbaw na bya ka sa pinoy, ang boxing hero himuon ug national hero. ang movie hero, himuon sab ug national hero somehow like FPJ...suwayi ug ad2 probinsya do...much more sa Mindanao like Gen San...im sure u also heard stories about a Muslim community wherein ilaha giguba ang tv tungod lang sa FPJ movie...gatuo cguro cla nga tinuod ang salida...nyahaha

In the euphoria after such victories over his Mexican foes, the buzz was all for hailing Manny as a modern-day national hero.

and regarding JLo? even the Black & White Movement hails JLo as a "HERO"...nyahaha

kumbinsing!!!

[kamote_q]

From Merriam-Webster dictionary..

HERO
Pronunciation: \ˈhir-(ˌ)ō\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural heroes
Etymology: Latin heros, from Greek hērōs
Date: 14th century
1 a: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability b: an illustrious warrior c: a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities d: one that shows great courage
2 a: the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work b: the central figure in an event, period, or movement
3plural usually heros : submarine 2
4: an object of extreme admiration and devotion : idol

the word "hero" has been often abused by us filipinos in the search for the real meaning of a country where poverty, inequality, arrogance, greed is rampant amongst us..thus, we need to find the "TRUE HEROES" who can bring this country back to its stature 50 years ago wherein we are only second to Japan in the whole of Asia...my wishful thinking!!